Magnolienball 2024

Der Magnolienball im eleganten Ballsaal des Bayerischen Hofs war auch dieses Jahr ein voller Erfolg. Der diesjährige Spendencheck über 10.000€ erhiehlt Natalie Schmid für ein neues Projekt ihres gemeinnützigen Vereins „Münchner für Münchner e.V.“, das Demenzkranke in Neuperlach unterstützen wird.

Silver Tea

Der Silbertee 2023 im festlichen Kaisersaal der Münchner Residenz war wieder ein großer Erfolg. Der diesjährige Spendencheck über 10.000€ ging an “Frauen helfen Frauen“ Fürstenfeldbruck e.V., eine Einrichtung die Betroffenen von häuslicher Gewalt Beratung und Unterstützung anbietet.

Mitgliedertreffen Oktober 2023 im Kaufmanns Casino

Beim Mitgliedertreffen im Oktober war Frau Sandra Winter vom gemeinnützigen Verein „Frauen helfen Frauen Fürstenfeldbruck e.V.“ bei uns zu Gast.  Frau Winter, Vorstandsmitglied dieses Vereins, hielt einen eindrucksvollen Vortrag über dessen Aufgaben und Ziele. Im November wird sie beim 72. Silbertee unseren diesjährigen Spendenscheck stellvertretend entgegennehmen.  

v.l. n. r. : Ulrike Kellner, Präsidentin GAWC; Sandra Winter, Vorstandsmitglied „Frauen helfen Frauen“ Fürstenfeldbruck e.V.; Ingeberga Wölfinger, GAWC
Foto: GAWC

Auch unsere derzeitige Austauschstudentin Pia Winkler von der Troy University in Alabama stellte sich vor. Sie studiert an der LMU die Fächer Mathematik und Deutsch.

Cheque handover Münchner Tafel e.V.

Hannelore Kiethe, founder of Münchner Tafel and representatives of GAWC Munich met for a photo session in August on the occasion of our donation of May 16, 2023.

v.l. n. r. : Ina Anders, Budget Chairlady  Renate Schmucker,  Hannelore Kiethe und die ehemalige GAWC Präsidentin Traudl Schmid
Foto: GAWC

Cheque handover brotZeit e.V.

Board member Margarethe Schlemmer of brotZeit. and representatives of GAWC Munich met for a photo session in July on the occasion of our donation of May 16, 2023.

v.l.n.r.  Renate Schmucker, Budget Chairlady GAWC,  Traudl Schmid,  ehemalige GAWC Präsidentin,   Margarethe Schlemmer, Vorstandsmitglied  brotZeit. e.V., Andrea Lehner, Pressereferentin GAWC, Ina Anders, Cooking with Friends, GAWC 
Foto: GAWC

4th of July Party at the US Consulate General in Munich

After the years of the pandemic US Consul General Timothy E. Liston was very pleased to host the 4th of July party at the US Consulate General again. The GAWC was represented by the newly elected Vice President Andrea Hellmann as well as Press Chairlady Andrea Lehner. Following the national anthem and speeches by Dr. Florian Hermann and US consul general Timothy E. Liston, the German American friendship was celebrated under the beautiful white and blue sky.

GAWC Press Chairlady Andrea Lehner, US Konsul General Timothy E. Liston, GAWC Vize President Andrea Hellmann
Foto: GAWC

Change of leadership at the German-American Women's Club

During the new elections at the general meeting in June 2023, the board of directors of the German-American Women's Club was newly appointed: President Ulrike Kellner had previously held this position for three years, Vice President Andrea Hellmann and Treasurer Petra Bohlein are new in office. We wish the team every success in their activities in the coming year.

left to right: Petra Bohlein (Treasurer), Ulrike Kellner (President), Andrea Hellmann (Vize President)
Foto: T. Lösch

Exchange Students in the Past and today

At the 75th-anniversary celebration of GAWC, we had the pleasure of welcoming a number of former students. One of them, Bernd Weißenbach, wrote to us afterwards:

"It was a wonderful coincidence: when I went to the Office for International Affairs at LMU 23 years ago, you (the former Chairlady Bettina Randhahn, note from the editor) had just departed. You had just submitted your information and application documents for the VDAC student exchange program. Almost freshly printed, an employee handed me the documents and said: 'We have something for you. But for a USA scholarship, you need to show quite a lot. Nothing comes from nothing!' How lucky I was to be selected as a scholarship recipient by the association back then!

My year at Oberlin College significantly changed my life. Looking back, it was perhaps the most formative year of my life - such a colorful, creative, and exciting time where I could discover so much, experiment, unfold artistically, and embark on new paths. Years later, my Teaching Assistant year at Oberlin also served me excellently. For my teaching degree, I had to demonstrate a longer stay in an English-speaking country, and so I have my year at Oberlin College to thank. I would love to return to Oberlin College for a visit someday and am working on it."

Left to right: Sonja Weinbuch, Jessica Kistler-Bubendorf and our present student Rhea Karty
middle row: Joe Gallego, Thomas Schaller (Press Speaker a.D. of am. General Konsulat) and Mike Pilewski
upper row left: Bernd Weißenbach

Our Art Group was in Dresden

Our wish to undertake a trip together became real as we agreed on Dresden as the destination and I met an art and architecture historian who would lead our tour. I knew Dresden and made several suggestions and Mr. Jelkmann worked out a nice program for us:

“Architecture World Theater — Dresden as the Monumental Stage of Baroque”

Our group included 19 women and men who traveled independently by train or car and who stayed in the same centrally-located hotel next to the Zwinger Palace. Thus, we could reach everything in town by foot and for one day, a bus was arranged to take us to several palaces in the surrounding region.

Dresden’s magnificent architecture and the important art collections suffered significant losses as a result of the devastating bombings on the night of February 13,1945 and the often unnecessary demolition that followed. The ruins of the Frauenkirche (Church of our Lady) were left in place for many years serving as a memorial to the terror and senseless destruction that had taken place. After German reunification, donations from the whole world enabled a grand reconstruction of the Frauenkirche. In addition, several neighborhoods reflecting the old examples of the special Baroque and High Renaissancestyles have emerged in the Altstadt (Old Town).

The sächsischen Kurfürsten (Elector of Saxony) of the House of Wettiner, who was simultaneously the King of Poland and Grand Elector of Lithuania, promoted art and culture in the late 17th and 18th centuries. Also in the 19th century, the kings of the Saxon House of Wettiner, serving at the pleasure of Napoleon, had great influence on the magnificent developments (Semperoper – Opera House of Dresden) in the city. We were awed by the buildings of the Zwinger, the residential palaces, including the equally splendid interiors with their wonderful collections of art treasures, jewelry and decorations, jewels, porcelain, garments and weapons, and also the famous Opera House of Dresden.

One day was dedicated to a palace and garden tour in the area surrounding Dresden. The bus drove us past the Großen Garten (Large Park), an approximately 2 kilometer-square park with palace, on our way to visit additional attractions. We saw the giant Schloss Weesenstein (Weesenstein Palace), the baroque garden Großsedlitz, the Pillnitz palace and park, the three Elbschlösser (palaces along the Elbe River) — Albrechtsberg Palace, Eckburg Palace and Lingner Palace, as well as the Moritzburg Palace and finally, the Wackerbarth Palace that is now a state wine-growing estate, where we were served a wonderful dinner.

Now we have the many impressions and images of this art-, culture-, and pleasure-trip to hold and revisit in our memories.    

Uschi Trümper, Chairlady Kunstgruppe